25 Most Popular Online Shopping Websites

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Online shopping is a key part of the retail sector. The largest retail stores in the world are online first. Amazon, an online store with a limited bricks-and-mortar presence, generates more revenue than Walmart. It’s a huge industry shift.

This guide will shortlist the most popular online shopping websites in the world. We’ve used data from SimilarWeb.com to create this shortlist. Let’s jump into the guide.

1. Amazon

Amazon is the most popular online shopping website. The main site, Amazon.com, gets close to 2.6 billion visitors a month. The country-specific domains, for example, amazon.co.uk or amazon.jp, get more than a billion visitors.

The eCommerce store stocks a huge product collection. You can buy almost anything through the site. It’s easy to navigate, and you can see the top-rated products. It also offers quick delivery. Many products are available with same-day delivery. Amazon also has a popular affiliate program used by affiliate marketers. If you want to get involved in affiliate marketing, you should join the program.

It is more than just one of the most popular online stores. The company is active in cloud computing and logistics. The founder, Jeff Bezos, now runs Blue Origin, a spaceship company.

2. eBay

eBay is an online auction and shopping site. The company operates in 32 countries and serves 941 million users each month. It’s one of the most popular online shopping sites. eBay generates over $10 billion in annual revenue.

You can make a lot of money as a seller on eBay. A lot of dropshippers sell products that they don’t stock on the site. It’s a relatively straightforward business model.

3. Rakuten

You might have heard of Rakuten before. It is the shirt sponsor for both FC Barcelona and the Golden State Warriors. Rakuten is also the largest online shopping website in Japan. In 2020, close to 530 million people visited Rakuten.co.jp. The store sells designer brands, cosmetics, electronics, and more.

The online store has a small presence in Europe and the US. Rakuten is trying to grow its presence in these regions by offering shopping deals. You can download their Chrome extension to get cash back and find discount coupons for products.

4. Taobao 

Taobao is one of the biggest online websites. It caters to the Chinese-speaking market. The site is a bit like eBay, and is used by a lot of small businesses. In fact, eBay is no longer operating in China, because Taobao replaced them.

The Taobao website is in Mandarin and Cantonese. The site gets around 450 million monthly visitors. It mostly operates in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan.

5. Walmart

Walmart is a US retail giant. It is one of the largest retail chains in the world. The company launched Walmart.com in 2000. The online store offers “everyday low prices” to online shoppers. The site gets 450 million visitors a month. It is one of the most popular online shopping websites.

In 2019, Walmart generated $19 billion from its online operations. The company generates most of its revenues from its brick-and-mortar stores throughout the continental US.

6. AliExpress

AliExpress is a retail website. It is under the same holding group as Alibaba. The site connects Chinese retailers to consumers around the world. It receives over 440 million visitors a month. You can access the site in English, German, French, and many other languages.

AliExpress is a great option for consumers looking for cheap manufactured products from China. It sells a lot of goods produced by local manufacturers. The site is very popular with drop shippers who purchase through AliExpress and sell via other channels.

7. Craigslist

Craigslist is more of a community board than an online shop. Amongst everything else, you can find a lot of second-hand goods on the website. For example, you can buy used cars, art supplies, and more.

The appearance of Craigslist hasn’t changed much since its launch. The site doesn’t have the polished appearance of a site like Amazon. Regardless, Craigslist is a popular site. It receives around 420 million visitors a month. It is a great site for selling cheap second-hand goods, or purchasing cheap goods.

8. Etsy

Sites like Amazon can feel like huge online department stores. Etsy is more like your local craft fair. It is one of the biggest eCommerce sites dedicated to arts and crafts. A lot of small owner-operated craft businesses use Etsy. It’s a place you go to buy handmade goods, craft supplies, and more.

The products sold on Etsy have a folksy appeal to them. The Etsy platform, though, is modern and easy to navigate. It offers a great online shopping experience.  The platform uses AI technology to help users find what they want.

Etsy is one of the most popular online shopping sites. The company has annual revenues in excess of $600 million. More than 350 million people visit the site each month.

9. Avito

Avito is the Russian answer to Craigslist. Thousands of people post classified ads on the site daily. Like Craigslist, Avito has a minimalist interface. The site features ads for items such as second-hand cars, clothes, and farm equipment.

Avito is a key player in Eastern Europe’s eCommerce sector. The site gets 285 million visitors a month from the region. Unlike the other online shopping websites on this list, it has no presence in the English-speaking market.

10. Flipkart

India is a battleground for eCommerce. It has the second-largest domestic market in the world. Flipkart is one of the largest online shopping sites in the country. The site gets over 206 million visitors a month.

Flipkart has a large product range. You can buy fashionable clothing, consumer electronics, and more. It is also one of the biggest sellers of mobile phones in the country. The website benefits from exclusive deals with big brands such as Nokia and Nautica.

11. Allegro

Eastern Europe is one of the largest online shopping markets in the world. Online sales in the region exceeded €33 billion in 2018. Poland is one of the key markets in this region. The country is dominated by homegrown eCommerce platform, Allegro.

Allegro gets more than 205 million visitors a month. People visit the site for deals on electronics, household items, clothing, school supplies, and furniture. 

12. Target

Target stocks a wide range of consumer goods. It sells everything from clothing to garden furniture. The company aims to offer upscale items at budget-friendly prices. For example, in the fashion niche, it has partnerships with brands like Converse, and Marimekko.

The focus on providing high-quality products at cheap prices makes it a popular store. The site receives over 200 million visitors a month. Most of the site visitors are from the US.

13. Alibaba

If you are a business looking to source manufactured goods from China you should be using Alibaba. It is the leading B2B eCommerce site in China, and possibly the world. After all, China is the global factory. Alibaba offers a simple way to source products from manufacturers. You can search for products, see consumer ratings, and make inquiries. The only caveat is you need to buy in bulk.

As you might expect, Alibaba gets fewer visitors than online business-to-consumer websites. It still gets a lot of visitors, though. The site gets around 180 million visitors a month.

14. Wayfair

Wayfair is an online store for furniture, decor, and other household goods. Few eCommerce brands can boast of the product range of Wayfair. The US online shopping site claims to offer 14 million items. They stock items from over 5,000 suppliers worldwide.

The site invites its visitors to “make that dream home a reality.” Millions of customers use the site to beautify their homes. The site gets more than 100 million visitors a month.

15. Lazada

Southeast Asia has some of the fastest emerging economies in the world. The region includes many large countries. For example, Indonesia has over 270 million people. It is the third-largest country in the world.

One of the largest online shopping sites in the region is Lazada. You can set up your own store on the site to sell goods. The country-specific domains receive more than 130 million visitors a month. The Alibaba Group owns Lazada.

Another important eCommerce site in the region, which is not on this list, is Tokopedia. The Indonesian eCommerce platform has many similarities with Tokopedia.

16. Wish

Wish is like a visual search engine. It has a lot of similarities with Pinterest. You use the search bar to find goods, then browse through images. It’s a different approach to eCommerce to the other shopping sites on this list.

Wish uses gamification to engage site visitors. For example, there is the Blitz Buy game, where consumers can get discounts on items. The combination of visual search and gamification has made Wish one of the most downloaded shopping apps.

The online shop gets more than 100 million visitors a month. Just over one-quarter of these site visitors are from the US.

17. Costco

Costco is best known for its membership warehouse clubs. It is the second-largest retailer in the world. The website started as a B2B wholesale shopping service, with a larger product inventory. The site is popular with small businesses that tend to purchase supplies in bulk. 

CostCo is well known for its low prices and exclusive online sales. The online shop receives more than 80 million visitors a month. Most of the visitors come from the US. Costco has national websites in the UK, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Canada. Those sites have around 40 million visitors a month.

18. Kohl’s

Kohl’s is the largest department store chain in the US. It has a physical presence in 49 of the 50 states. The company is known for its “racetrack” store layout. The layout mimics those found in discount stores.

Kohl’s online shop gets more than 50 million visitors a month. They stock a wide range of goods from fashion labels to furniture. The company is known for selling high-end brands at affordable prices. Kohl’s also has affordable in-house brands such as Sonoma Goods For Life.

19. ASOS

ASOS is an online shop that sells clothing and makeup. The company stocks more than 800 fashion and cosmetics brands. They also sell ASOS-branded accessories and apparel.

The company is a digitally savvy brand. ASOS attributes 10% of its sales to email marketing. It operates around the world. It has fulfillment centers spread across the UK, US, and Europe. The fast delivery and discounts make it popular with customers.

ASOS gets around 50 million visitors a month to its website. It is just behind Amazon and eBay in the UK.

20. Overstock

Overstock sells a mixture of closeout merchandise and new goods. If you’ve never heard the phrase before, closeout goods are surplus and returned items. Some of the goods it sells are produced exclusively for the company.

Overstock has a global presence. The company will ship goods anywhere in the world.

The Overstock shop gets about 50 million visitors a month from the US. People are attracted to the store because of the range of goods and the low prices.

21. QVC

QVC was one of the pioneers of the TV shopping channel industry. They host four TV channels. There is a channel dedicated to new products, recently-aired ads, classics, and beauty products.

It now has a strong TV and digital presence. The company runs a lot of promotions through social media. It has a large Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter following. The QVC online store gets around 30 million monthly visitors. The company has a wide appeal and a young audience base.

22. Newegg

You might not have heard of Newegg before. The online shop, which was founded in 2001, specializes in electronics and computers. It is one of the most popular online shopping sites in its niche. It has a global presence, but most of its customers are from the US.

The online shop gets around 30 million visitors a month. The revenue numbers are also impressive. The company generated $2.7 billion in gross revenue in 2016.

23. Instacart

Instacart is an online grocer. In fact, it is the world’s largest online grocery service. The company is based in the US. The site works with the likes of Aldi, Costco, Walmart, and Target to bring fresh produce to customers’ doors nationwide.

The Instacart website gets around 25 million visitors a month. The business has grown fast over the last few years.

24. Zappos

Founded in 1999, Zappos started as an online shoe store. The original domain name was Shoesite.com. The company was acquired by Amazon in 2009. Since the acquisition, it gradually expanded its collection. Zappos now stocks clothing, athletic wear, handbags, and more. However, it’s still mainly a shoe store.

The Zappos website gets more than 15 million visitors a month. The numbers are pretty impressive for an eCommerce site that focuses on shoes and apparel. 

25. Sears

Sears used to be one of the largest bricks-and-mortar department stores in the US. That’s no longer the case. The company has been forced to close many of its stores. Yet, the company is still a household name. Its website is also very popular.

The Sears online shop stocks a wide variety of goods. That includes fashion labels, accessories, electronics, and home supplies. The website generated around $1.3 billion dollars in revenue in 2019. It averages slightly less than 10 million visitors a month.

Conclusion

This guide provides a shortlist of the 25 best online shopping sites. The list provides you with a snapshot of some of the most popular stores from around the world. Some sites have a worldwide reach and offer everything, others cater to specific territories or industries.

I hope you liked this shortlist of the most popular online shopping sites. For more Launch Space articles, check out the best office backgrounds for Zoom, and our guide to the best Omegle alternatives.

About the author

Nicholas Prins

I'm the founder of Launch Space. We work with global companies helping them scale lead generation through SEO and content marketing. Head over to the homepage to find out more.

By Nicholas Prins